The Ombuds Office of the ETH Board is an independent body responsible in a subsidiary capacity for dealing with reports of illegal and unethical conduct observed by members of the ETH Domain in the course of ETH Domain-related activity. Subsidiary capacity means that, whenever possible, reports must initially be made inside the two Federal Institutes of Technology or the four research institutes, first to senior bodies or, if this is deemed unreasonable, to the bodies responsible for dealing with such reports in the institutions concerned.